I have always been a die hard Royals fan and always will be despite a lot of really bad seasons. But as a little kid you like to cheer for multiple teams. Or at least I did. A lot of times you are drawn to teams for random reasons, a favorite player, a mascot, the teams colors. Thus was the case with my national league team for many years. Red, White and Blue seemed like the way to go. Ironically, all though they wore America’s colors, they were actually in another country. Oh Canada rang before there games as my national league team was none other than the Montreal Expos. Of course the Expos no longer exist which is a sad story in itself. The Expos like the Royals suffered a lot of rough years. But in 1994 things were good for both teams and I was into baseball as much as ever. The Royals were 64-51 and 3 games out of first place. One of my favorite players, Tony Gwynn was batting .390 and chasing the elusive .400. My other favorite player, Ken Griffey Jr. was sitting on 40 homeruns chasing after the home run record. It wouldn’t be unheard of for Griffey to hit 22 more in the last 50 games and a guy named Matt Williams was already 3 ahead of him. And to top it all off, guess who had the best record in Baseball? None other than the Montreal Expos. But then the season abruptly ended as the players went on strike and it was not only the end arguably of the Expos greatest season, it was pretty much the end of the Expos. So with that sadness in mind, and with Spring training now in full swing, I thought it would be a great time to honor the team that is no more. Here are who I consider the 10 Greatest Expos of all time!

10. Larry Walker

Here is a guy who only played for the Expos for 6 years. There is a bunch of them…if they made it that long. Larry was great where ever he played. He won two gold gloves with the Expos and hit .322 his last year with the Expos which happened to be the same year of the strike. He was part of an incredible outfield of Walker in Right, Marquis Grissom in Center and Moises Alou in Left. Grissom also left after 94 and immediately won a world series with the Braves. Alou left two years later and immediately won a world series with the Marlins. Walker spent many years with the Rockies so he of course never won anything. But he did hit a lot of balls and became a hall of famer.

9. Pedro Martinez

A lot of really great players started their careers in Montreal including several that didn’t make this list because the barely played there before becoming stars elsewhere. Randy Johnson for instance didn’t make the list after only spending a year and half in Montreal. He turned out alright. Pedro just made the cut playing only 4 years in Montreal. Pedro went 55-33 and was part of their success in 94. 3 years later in 97 he won the Cy Young going 17-8 with a 1.90 ERA and 13 complete games. He of course ran off to make all the money in Boston. That worked out alright for him…but not so much for the Expos.

8. Jeff Reardon

Reardon was one of many closers to find or start having success in Montreal. But Reardon had the most success. Although he was only there for 6 years, he is the all time save leader with over 150 saves. He led the league in saves in 85 and was an all star in 85 and 86. Like all former Expos he left and found immediate success winning a World Series with the Twins in 87. But hey you can’t be mad at Reardon. Not when he is rocking that awesome beard. He wore a beard before beards were cool.

7. Dennis Martinez

When I think of the Expos and pitching, I think of Denny Martinez. By the time Martinez got to Montreal he had already had a long career in Baltimore. But from 86-93 he was the most consistent pitcher for the Expos. While guys like Reardon, Johnson, Pedro and Ken Hill came and went, Martinez was the stability on the mound for the Expos when I was a kid. He had 6 winning seasons which is hard to do in Montreal. He was an all star from 90-92 and should have been one in 93 as well. In 91 he led the league in ERA, complete games and shutouts at age 37, which is younger than me now but seemed real old at the time. From 88-93 he started 30 or more games each year and is the all time Expo leader for lowest ERA. And he was a pretty funny and entertaining person as well.

6. Tim Wallach

Wallach spent an incredible 12 years with the Expos playing mostly 3rd base. Most good players didn’t last half that long before leaving for greener pasture. But that was the beauty of Wallach. He was good but not good enough to get paid elsewhere. He eventually left for the Dodgers but his glory years were definitely with the Expos. Tim made the all star game 5 times and collected 3 gold gloves. 1987 was probably his best season when he batted .298 and hit 26 home runs. 26 home runs doesn’t seem like a lot but in 1987 that was pretty good. And in the midst of many of my favorite expo players leaving, I could always count on old Timmy to be there for me. He is the all time Expo leader in hits, doubles, and RBI’s.

5. Steve Rogers

Steve was the one Expo who never left, playing his entire 13 year career in Montreal. In fact he is literally the only player to play his whole career in Montreal. That alone should get him on the list. I only caught the tale end of his career as he played from 73-85. He was a 5 time all star and is the all time Expo leader in wins, strikeouts and shut outs. His best year he went 19-8 and led the league with a 2.40 ERA in 1982. Steve also has the same name as Captain America. And to top things off, he was born in Jefferson City where I lived for 9 years. One of the managers, Dick Williams, didn’t like Rogers and said he was only good when it didn’t matter and didn’t come through in big games. Williams was fired during the 1981 strike season. That year they split the season in halves. With Williams gone, the Expos won their division in the second half and the Expos made their one and only playoff appearance. They beat the Phillies and then lost to the Dodgers. During that playoff run, Rogers went 3-1 with a .97 ERA. That seems pretty clutch to me.

4. Gary Carter

From 1974 to 1984 Carter was behind the plate for the Expos. He was an 8 time all star including 7 in a row from 79-84. I was pretty little when he played for the Expos but I remember wearing my plastic Expos helmet backwards like Gary. Carter was a heck of a player and now is in the hall of fame and was easily the best catcher in Expos history. In fact, I dare you to name another Expo catcher. After the 1984 season, Gary wanted too much money. And the one thing the Expos were great at was being cheap. So they traded Carter to their divisional rival, the New York Mets for Hubie Brooks and some other guys who barely ever played. Besides saving money, this trade did not work out for the Expos. Meanwhile, Carter went on to make the All-Star game the next 4 years. After 12 years and making it to the playoffs only one time in the strike season, Carter helped the Mets win the world series in 1986. But to this day, it is hard to picture the Expos without picturing Gary Carter.

3. Andre Dawson

The Hawk would probably be higher on most people’s list but I am still bitter about him leaving to go to the Cubs during my prime baseball youth fandom, especially after talking smack on Gary Carter after he left. But Dawson was the real deal. He played only a few games in 1976 but then for about a decade, he was mister expo. In 77 he was rookie of the year. He was a great player who routinely hit 20 home runs and stole 20 bases. He was an all star from 81-83 and really probably should have got the nod more. In his time with the Expos he hit 225 home runs, stole 253 bases and hit .280. He was also on This week in Baseball a lot. If you did not grow up watching This Week in Baseball, I feel sorry for you. The 80’s were the best.

2. Vladimir Guerrero

Vladi was the last great Expo. After playing a few games in 1996 he really got going in 1997 and left the Expos shortly before the Expos left themselves. He never hit below .300 and is the all time leader with 234 home runs as well as batting average at .323. He also had a cannon for an arm. He left the Expos but of all of the players that left, I blame him the least as the writing was on the wall that the Expos were going to be no more. Guerrero was a freak athlete. In 2002 he led the league in hits with 206 and hit 39 home runs and stole 40 bases. This was back to back years of 30 plus home runs and 30 plus stolen bases. Watching Vladi play is my last good memory of the Expos.

1.Tim “Rock” Raines

Raines was phenomenal. He was an all star from his rookie year in 81 through 1987. From 81-86 he never had less than 70 stolen bases and led the league 4 years straight from 81-84 until Vince Coleman showed up and stole 100. Raines often slid face first. My brother once told me that it was because he had cocaine in his back pockets. I have no idea if that was true but it does make me question his nickname “rock”. It could be true as doing cocaine and playing major league baseball in the 80s went hand in hand. But around the same time, my brother also told me that I was adopted. So he wasn’t the greatest source of accurate information. What I do know is that Raines stole 635 bases in Montreal, had 1,622 hits and batted .301. He is 5th all time in MLB history in stolen bases and is in the Hall of Fame. In 86 he led the league in batting average and on base percentage. The Rock was awesome and my all time favorite Expo.

Honorable Mention:

Ken Hill, Delino DeShields, Marquis Grissom, Tim Burke and Andres Galarraga also known as the Big Cat. He almost got on the list based upon his nickname alone.

Check out next week for the next Top 10 list and don’t miss the 5 for Friday covering hot topics in Sports from the week.